Waltz of a Rose
by Starry Bright
Summary: Rose Weasley faces one of her biggest challenges at Hogwarts yet... Ballroom dance! She is practicing alone when she happens upon an unwelcome spectator. Her rival in most things, Scorpius Malfoy. How well will this go?


**A/N**

**So this is my very first fanfic :D! I had this idea floating around my head for ages and I am so glad I could finally transfer it into text. read and review please! Any form of constructive criticism is accepted and even encouraged. Think I need more detail? Tell me! Think I need less dialogue! Tell me! Anything that could make this a better story! Tell me! I will graciously accept your deconstruction of this and try to apply it in my future endeavors! On with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. But if I ever do become J.K a la freaky Friday style, I'll notify the public ASAP ;)**

Waltz of a Rose

This is stupid, frustrating and unfair! I mean, what does this even have to do with magic or any form of wizardry? This is completely useless! When will I use this "skill" in life? I've never heard of a great witch who had to "left foot change" her way out of danger, or a wizard who had to "box step" his way out of a swarm of doxies! The mere fact that they are challenging my intellectual ability with mindless dance_ steps_ is an insult! Right?

I tried to get out of it! Merlin knows I did! I offered to do essays, reports, speeches, ANYTHING! But nooo!

"I'm sorry miss Weasley, but this is a mandatory part of your education as a well-rounded student of Hogwarts…" Even the headmaster is against me!

So here I am _attempting_ to ballroom dance… by myself. I'd be absolutely mortified if I had to ask someone, and Merlin knows that Albus and James would never let me live it down if I even tried to ask them. Granted I do not know I could ever live down my embarrassment if I was seen with my arms in the air stumbling over my own feet... alone.

I collect my resolve and with a flick of my wand, music fills the large room. I start counting the steps in my head.

"One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three."

And I am doing pretty well keeping my feet in time with my counting and the music. And I'm sure I look choppy and unrefined but I know it's enough to get the grade… I hope. I keep my steady rhythm but the music's tempo changes and I my steps speed up.

"One, Two, Three. One, two, three"

My counting quickens up to keep up. The rhythm and the numbers in my head jumble up and my feet get mixed up.

"One, Two, Three. One, two, three"

In a split second I tumble to the ground with a loud, echoing thud. I groan as I rise to a sitting position, nursing my soon to be bruised elbow. I hear the music still filling the room with its moderately paced sound that seemed so fast when I was dancing and in my aggravation rise to my feet to fetch my wand and turn the bloody music off. Or I would have if I had not stumbled over my feet and landed face first on the ground, again! Curse my father's two left feet that I seem to have inherited.

I start to rise again when I hear quiet laughter and the sound of slow footsteps. I turn my head to the source of the sound and I see a figure emerge from behind a pillar.

I curse under my breath when I see the trade mark smirk of my observer.

Scorpius.

Of all the people in Hogwarts, it had to be _him_. Our relationship is… different. We have competed since our first year at Hogwarts. Academics, quiditch insults... Anything that we could compete with the other for, we did. At first, it put a real strain on our relationship but as we grew older we developed an understanding. An understanding catalyzed by a storm, my ex Brody Finnegan, black hair, and hot chocolate. But that's another story. Besides I highly doubt this understanding extends as far as him not telling the entire house of Slytherin of Rose Weasley's coordination failure. I end my thought process and look up at a laughing Scorpius. I get up and stand (not without a little wobble) and start to brush off my skirt as he approaches clapping his hands slowly at my predicament.

"Weasley, Weasley,Weasley… What _are _you doing?" Scorpius drawls as he comes face to face with me. I know by now that my face is red enough to be a perfect match for my hair. And by the widening smirk gracing his face, he's noticed.

I back away from him to pull my wits together and I feel my blush start to fade. I open my mouth to start speaking when he says

"Oh this is too good! One of the _smartest_ girls to ever grace the halls of Hogwarts is not so _graceful._ _"_

My blood boils and I reach for my wand, my robe and I storm towards the door. I am much to agitated and bloody pissed at the entire fact that I can't do some blasted dance to tolerate Scorpius now. Tears of frustration burn my eyes and I'm about a foot away from the door when I feel a hand on my forearm. I twist around out of his grasp and face him.

"Hey, that was also kind of a compliment too. I did call you smart you know." He says.

I look at his expression and notice that his smirk has since been replaced with a small almost sincere smile.

"What are you doing here Scorpius?" I ask, regretting not getting to the door faster.

"I could very well ask you the same thing"

My embarrassment returns as I remember what I was doing. I let out a sigh and barely whisper…

"Ballroom dancing"

I can tell he's holding back his laughter and when he let one giggle loose, I turned on my heel and once again headed for the door. Making sure that my steps leave an echoing thud behind me. He didn't stop me this time though. He did however yell an insult my way.

"You know, if your dancing is anything like your walk it's no wonder you stumble over your own bloody feet! I suppose you could call that collection of off beat stomps the _Waltz of a Rose_!"

I halted and turned around and marched towards Scorpius, who was sporting that signature smirk again. I was less than a foot away from his face when I started yelling

"Insufferable git! As if you know anything about this stuff! Sauntering about as if you are ever knowing! I've seen you in class, sitting with your little group, acting like you are sooo good at this that you don't even have to try. But you know what!"

My rant was cut short. I gasped when he grabbed me, one of his hand on the upper part of my back the other clasping my hand.

"What are you doing?" I demanded as he moved my free hand to his shoulder. I choose to ignore the toned feeling of his muscles beneath his shirt.

"Has it ever occurred to you Rose that maybe I am in fact so good that I don't have to try?" I suppose he felt we were sufficiently adjusted at this point because he started moving us to the music.

I never shut it off, did I?

I was trying to wrangle myself out of his grasp, this was not happening. I reddened in the face when I realized how close our bodies were and how gracefully he was moving across the floor despite the jerking motions of me attempting escape.

"Stop struggling! I'm _helping_ you. Just relax." He whispered in my ear, which much to my surprise made me physically relax. Maybe this was not so bad; he was obviously adequate at this and if he told anyone of this he would get just as much grief as I did. So I started counting in my head again.

"_One, Two, Three. One, two, three"_

"Another thing, stop that bloody counting you insist on doing in your head… You're off by a beat anyways"

"How do you know I'm off by a beat?" I asked genuinely curious about his source of information.

"The same way I knew you were counting in the first place. It's written on your face."

I noticed I was blushing much too often doing this and I promise myself I'd learn a glamour charm to hide this problem but I need to stop thinking and just relax, just relax, just– "

My breath hitched when I looked into his eyes. His eyes were a stark contrast to mine. Whilst mine were filled with concentration and determination (I expect) his were filled with a certain look of peace and… passion? He genuinely enjoys this doesn't he? He's a lot better than this dance thing then I first estimated. His feet seem to be barely touching the floor. We pass by a mirror and I catch a glimpse of myself and I just look really out of my element, my posture just seems wrong and judging by my wobbly stance I am not keeping up stepwise either.

"Just straighten your back, you are bending away from me. And stop over thinking; is it a genetic habit for you Weasley women? Just listen to the music, and follow me." He whispers in my ear and once again it relaxes me and unexpectedly blanks my thoughts.

All I feel is swaying and turns as he leads me around the room. A step here. A pivot there. A sway over there. Gravity loses its hold on me and I swear I could be floating. I'm lost; but my feet are keeping up.

The song begins to speed up and I remember what happened last time I reached this part. In my panic I began counting in my head again.

"_One, Two, Three, One, Two, Three."_

My feet are stating to stumble again when I feel Scorpius' grasp tighten. He moves his face even closer to mine, except this time his lips are nowhere near my ears. His mouth is mere millimeters away from mine and I know that all it would take is a particularly harsh consonant sound for his lips to just barely graze mine. And I'm not sure if I would be entirely against that.

"Calm down Rose. It's just you, me and a steady rhythm." He speaks quietly, looking me straight in the eye. And I'm certain gravity has definitely lost all its hold on the castle or some 7th year has made a terrible mistake with their advanced levitation experiments. Because now I feel like I'm flying.

I'm calm again. I'm comfortable and I am grasping with a firmer grip the steps that had mocked me just minutes before. I twirl with him, our steps grow in synk and I pass the mirror again and we look… right.

The song starts to slow down again indicating its crescendo to its finish. I can feel myself being pulled to the center of the room and circling without any real displacement underneath the chandelier that I'm sure was once beautiful.

I hear the song fading to its end as I realize that Scorpius is slowly lowering me into a dip. As the song cuts off I look up at Scorpius. His pale grey eyes are driving into mine with an emotion I have never seen from him before. His face inches closer to mine and I can feel my heart beat accelerate with every move. He isn't even an inch away when my eyes begin to close on their own. I can feel his breath against my mouth, as he gets even closer. The pucker of my lips is barely noticeable even to myself when he stops in mid-air.

" Tell me again how I am an insufferable git who probably knows nothing about this?" He utters, his trademark smirk returning with fervor. My breathing is uneven and the registering of his words is a bit delayed due to the fog that is clouding my judgment. But delayed or not it still registered. My half closed eyes pop open and I immediately escape his grasp and straighten out my clothes. I pull my senses together and back a good two feet away from the young Malfoy.

"I suppose you are not completely useless at this. So what did you use, a charm, a potion?" I state, praying that my face has retained a somewhat human color. He closes the distance between us a bit.

"It's called ballroom classes since I was a child, Weasley. But, what would I know. Right?"

I could hear the sarcasm almost dripping from his lips as he says the second part of his revelation. I should have figured. The Malfoys are a noble family who would probably try to culture their youth with this kind of thing.

"I suppose that could be true," I say dragging my fingers through my hair, a nervous habit I picked up.

"You weren't awful, considering you could barely move about before without tumbling to your face!" He let's a chuckle out and begins to head for the door, muttering something about "one of the many things I do better than you."

"Hey, Malfoy!" I say just as he is about to go through the threshold of the door. He stop mid track but does not turn to face me.

"Thanks… for the help"

He turns his head to look at me over his shoulder. He looks me directly in the eye and for a second we just stare at the other in silence. He breaks the silence with a small laugh.

"Any time Weasley." And with a curt nod of his head he exits the room and shuts the door.

I stand a bit shocked, because the event of the pass few moments finally hit me with intensity.

We were dancing.

Our bodies were way too close.

His voice caused a physical reaction.

Did I want to kiss him?

Did he want to kiss me?

He said "Any time" does that mean he'd do it again?

Do I want to do it again?

Why did he help me in the first place?

My thoughts are a jumbled mess and I can't deal with it now. So I gather up my possessions and begin to leave the room for the dining hall. I'll eat then go to bed and I'll be able to blame this all on hunger and fatigue. Tomorrow Scorpius and I will revert to our default relationship and all will be forgotten.

I'll shake the almost sad feeling of that prospect later.

I open the door to leave and take a last look at the room. I let a small smile free.

**_Fin_**

**A/N**

**I hope you guys enjoyed this fanfic and that you'll review it. If you guys like it enough or I get a few requests I could write this story from Scorpius' POV :D. And if you're wondering what the catalyst for Rose and Scorpius' subtle understanding is, request it and I'll get to the story ASAP. Otherwise you guys can take my clues and run off with your fabulous imaginations :D**

**Thank you for reading.**


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